During the Qing Invasion of Korea, the king and the court take refuge in a mountain fortress, where they find themselves stranded in the cold and surrounded by the enemy. The king’s dilemma deepens as his people in the fortress start dying from cold and hunger. In 1636, Qing China invades Korea with 150,000 troops. The Korean court flees the capital to take shelter in the Namhan Fortress, located in treacherous mountains outside the city. The Qing army, led by General Yong Go... expand

During the Qing Invasion of Korea, the king and the court take refuge in a mountain fortress, where they find themselves stranded in the cold and surrounded by the enemy. The king’s dilemma deepens as his people in the fortress start dying from cold and hunger. In 1636, Qing China invades Korea with 150,000 troops. The Korean court flees the capital to take shelter in the Namhan Fortress, located in treacherous mountains outside the city. The Qing army, led by General Yong Gol Dae, quickly surrounds the fortress, leaving the king and the court stranded in a prolonged standoff. For a truce, the Qing general makes a humiliating proposal of sending the Crown Prince out as hostage. Unable to move forward or fight the outnumbering enemy, the people of the fortress start dying from cold and hunger. Between the interior minister, who emphasizes the king’s duty to protect the lives of his subjects regardless of humiliation, and the minister of rites, who maintains that they must fight to death for the greater cause, the king must make a grave choice. close

The documentary The Remnants (2016), from directors KIM Il-ran and LEE Hyuk-sang, has picked up the Grand Prize at the Busan Film Critics Association Awards. E Som was given the Best Actress Award for her role in JEON Go-woon’s Microhabitat, while PARK Jung-min took home the Best Actor Prize for LEE Joon-ik’s Sunset in My Hometown. The Remnants, which originally premiered at the Busan Internationa...

This past weekend, KIM Jee-yong earned the Golden Frog Award from the 26th edition of EnergaCamerimage, the world’s top cinematography event which takes place in Bydgoszcz, Poland every year, for his work on HWANG Dong-hyuk’s austere siege drama The Fortress (2017). It is the first time that a cinematographer from Korea has earned the prize. Meanwhile, the Silver and Bronze prizes were picked up b...

The 55th Grand Bell (Daejong) Film Awards took place in Seoul on the evening of October 22, where LEE Chang-dong’s latest critically acclaimed work Burning, which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, was handed the Best Film Prize. This year’s awards were very evenly spread out with NAM Dong-hyul’s The Fortress earning the most with three technical prizes. Among the double prize w...

This year’s Chuseok Holiday lasted for an unusually long 10 days, resulting in an exponential growth of the domestic film market in October. According to the Korean Film Council’s (KOFIC) “October 2017 Korean Film Industry Report”, there were a total of 21.6 million ticket buyers in all of October, which is an increase of 25.8% from the same time last year. Sales recorded 174.8 million dollars, al...

Box Office Report of 2017 The Korean film market reached new all-time benchmarks for income and admissions in 2017 after a strong December rally. Yet the real story behind the numbers was which unexpected films got audiences the most excited while several seemingly surefire hits stumbled out of the gate.With 219.87 million tickets sold when all was said and done, 2017 saw the Korean exhibition mar...

Korean films remained on top as the Chuseok holiday winner extended its lead and put down all new competition. Overall, local films accounted for 57% of the 1.96 million tickets sold over the frame. Local gang thriller THE OUTLAWS scored its second first place finish in its third week as it welcomed another 787,000 viewers (USD 5.94 million), a drop of just 17%, for a stellar running total of 4.97...

Last week’s top two Chuseok titles switched places but held all newcomers at bay in a solid post-holiday weekend that welcomed 1.91 million viewers. Local titles were once again far ahead with a 78% market share and should remain strong throughout the fall season. Ascending to first place on the back of stellar word of mouth was KANG Yoon-sung’s crime debut THE OUTLAWS with Don LEE (aka MA Dong-se...